Please note the new, earlier March 20 application deadline. Applicants will be selected on the strength and promise of the work submitted and on the committee's judgment that the applicant is likely to benefit from the Conference. Publications or productions are not required for contributors (general admission). There is no application fee.

Applicants must be 21 years of age by the time of the Conference. All participants are expected to attend the Conference for its entire 12-day duration.

Application Manuscripts

Poetry application manuscripts should be 10-15 pages, single-spaced. Scholarship applicants may submit a combination of published and unpublished work, observing length limits of 20 pages. If applying for a fellowship, please mail two hard copies of the same book to the Sewanee Writers' Conference / The University of the South / 119 Gailor Hall, Stamler Center / 735 University Ave. / Sewanee, TN 37383–1000.

Fiction application manuscripts should be 20-40 pages, typed, double-spaced (examples: a novel excerpt, a longer story, or two or more short stories). Scholarship applicants may submit a combination of published and unpublished work, observing length limits of 40 pages. If applying for a fellowship, please mail two hard copies of the same book to the Sewanee Writers' Conference / The University of the South / 119 Gailor Hall, Stamler Center / 735 University Ave. / Sewanee, TN 37383–1000.

Playwritingcontributor and scholarship application manuscripts should be a play or an excerpt of a play (please send 20 pages minimum), standard playscript format. Scholarship applicants should submit current work that has been workshopped or produced. Fellowship applicants should submit a full-length play or the equivalent in length of a collection of shorter works, all of which have seen production.

Applicants accepted to the Conference will have the opportunity to submit a separate manuscript for workshop as well as their top choices for a faculty reader.

Cost to Attend

Thanks to the generosity of the Walter E. Dakin Memorial Fund, supported by the estate of Tennessee Williams, all writers who attend the Sewanee Writers’ Conference receive partial funding. Contributors receive assistance covering two-thirds of the actual cost to attend. Additional funding is awarded to fellows and scholars.

If admitted to the Conference, contributors and scholars secure their places by sending deposits of $300 by May 15. The balance of the fee is due in Sewanee by May 30. All participants, including fellows, are responsible for their own travel costs.

Award Eligibility

The Conference offers a limited number of fellowships and scholarships on a competitive basis. Award applicants who would like to be considered for a contributor position should they not receive an award must submit a separate contributor application in addition to the award application.

Fellowship (Walter E. Dakin, Father William Ralston, or John N. Wall) applicants in poetry and fiction should have a book published by an academic or commercial publisher. Self-published titles are not considered eligible. Novellas and chapbooks are eligible for scholarship applications, but not for fellowships. We will accept fellowship applicants with books in press, but only if the book is in publication by the time of the Conference.